[MSL]

Theory of the second best

  Well, the theory of the second best is an economics theory, but the economics was born from the philosophy. Moreover, there is enough philosophy of the question: "Is the best only one or there are 'second best', 'third best', etc.?"
 So, I think it's okay to post here about the theory of the second best: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_the_second_best

In economics, the theory of the second best concerns the situation when one or more optimality conditions cannot be satisfied. The economists Richard Lipsey and Kelvin Lancaster showed in 1956, that if one optimality condition in an economic model cannot be satisfied, it is possible that the next-best solution involves changing other variables away from the values that would otherwise be optimal. Politically, the theory implies that if it is infeasible to remove a particular market distortion, introducing a second (or more) market distortion may partially counteract the first, and lead to a more efficient outcome.

[Alexa]

Very interesting one.

[Деси]

Yes.